Chelsea 2017/2018

I'd have thought the deal would be structured so that even if Chelsea are nominally paying his wages, Atletico are in effect. Otherwise Chelsea wouldn't have let it go through - far easier to keep fining him for non-attendance rather than paying him what he doesn't deserve.

Apparently Morata, Kante, and less significantly Drinkwater all out. Injuries to the first two could cost Chelsea some points in the upcoming fixtures, although I'd be shocked if they didn't win by a least a couple of goals this weekend against Palace.

He is an Atletico Madrid player now. The transfer was completed a few weeks ago for a fee of about £50mill. Both clubs announced the deal. He is training with them. They just can't register him until January, so he is stuck just training and watching from the stands. He is no longer our problem though.

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More puzzling to me is how the hell did they get 50 mill for a player they were never playing again in a one horse bidding auction ????

Seems very dodgy to me - why did Atletico not bid £25 mill and say take it or the problem child stays with you ?

Smacks of very similar to the deal for Luiz to PSG which everyone thought " how the fuck have Chelsea got that much for him....."....hmmmm

I'd be reluctant to totally dismiss them, but they would need to go on a similar type of run to what they did last season. And we would have to implode. Put it this way; I'd rather be in our position than theirs!

Their 'weak' start last year really wasn't as bad as people suggest. They won 3, failed to win in 3, and then went on a massively long winning streak. Their 'weak' start was exaggerated by how strong our start was.

Plus the 3 games they dropped points in were in a draw away at Swansea, a home loss to Liverpool and an away loss to Arsenal. Not really the absolute worst points to drop.

But this year they've lost away to the team with the weakest start in Europe, at home to Burnley, and they drew at home to Arsenal. You can argue that the loss to us was offset by the win against Tottenham. They might need to go on another winning streak again to challenge but with the CL to worry about you do just feel that such a run of form is beyond them.

If Conte sticks around after this season then I think he'll be able to stabilize things so that they can manage the extra games but right now I'd put them behind both Tottenham and United in terms of who's a likely threat this season.

Their 'weak' start last year really wasn't as bad as people suggest. They won 3, failed to win in 3, and then went on a massively long winning streak. Their 'weak' start was exaggerated by how strong our start was.

Plus the 3 games they dropped points in were in a draw away at Swansea, a home loss to Liverpool and an away loss to Arsenal. Not really the absolute worst points to drop.

But this year they've lost away to the team with the weakest start in Europe, at home to Burnley, and they drew at home to Arsenal. You can argue that the loss to us was offset by the win against Tottenham. They might need to go on another winning streak again to challenge but with the CL to worry about you do just feel that such a run of form is beyond them.

If Conte sticks around after this season then I think he'll be able to stabilize things so that they can manage the extra games but right now I'd put them behind both Tottenham and United in terms of who's a likely threat this season.

More puzzling to me is how the hell did they get 50 mill for a player they were never playing again in a one horse bidding auction ????

Seems very dodgy to me - why did Atletico not bid £25 mill and say take it or the problem child stays with you ?

Smacks of very similar to the deal for Luiz to PSG which everyone thought " how the fuck have Chelsea got that much for him....."....hmmmm

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They did offer £22m initially, Chelsea told them to do one and Costa lost the plot and refused to report to training. I think Chelsea would have been quite happy to let Costa rot away for the remainder of his contract, than to sell him for a pittance to Atletico who were trying to take advantage.

I think every time Chelsea sell a player for a decent price, people scream "dodgy". Costa is a really good player and Atletico wanted him. Chelsea weren't going to sell for a cut price, so they had to pay up.